This invention relates to a ski brake having ski width compensation.
Prior ski brakes, also known as ski stops and ski decelerators, have used a spring wire bent so that one end, which receives a plastic cap, forms a brake arm or spur and an intermediate section forms a holding loop which is maintained against the ski by a ski boot or by a sole plate. When the boot or sole plate is released, spring action forces the brake arm downwardly. To provide a pair of brake arms located on each side of the ski, the other end of the spring wire has received a second plastic cap, and an intermediate section of the spring wire has been bent over itself, into a U-shaped bulge. The bulge undesirably increases the height of the ski brake.
The single or double arms or shoes of known ski brakes, whether formed by spring wire or other means, extend either rearwardly or forwardly and adjacent the upper surface of the ski when in their rest or latched position. A collision with an obstruction can bend a brake arm inwardly over the upper surface of the ski, causing the brake arm to hang up and not release in a fall. If the brake arm is bent inwardly during a release, the skier when resetting the ski brake may not be aware of the damage, because the large step-in force on the holding loop will tend to force the brake arm outward and over the ski, latching the ski brake. Unfortunately, the bent brake arm may now spring back to its inward position, and may not release in a fall since the torque tending to rotate the brake arm is near a minimum at the rest position. Thus, a dangerous condition results because the skier assumes that the ski brake is operative since it was reset.
Prior mounting pads for ski brakes typically have been made of a high friction material, generally plastic. When this pad is located under a sole plate ski binding, or under the sole of a ski boot, the high friction material in the pad can impede release from the safety ski binding.